Democratic Candidates for 2020 thread -

Fantine said:

Then I saw Buttigieg. He is, in a word, Obama-esque. Charming, young, likeable, brilliant, filled with great ideas, and, most of all, calm. I don't fear that his sexual orientation will lose him support. Anyone who would vote against him because of his sexual orientation is probably a Trump supporter already, and probably wouldn't vote for any Democrat.

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I think you are probably wrong about that.

GoldenBoy89 said:

I'm curious what your thoughts are on Mayor Pete as a Democratic candidate, if you don't mind sharing them.

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OK. Some preliminary thoughts:

1. I would be leery of electing a pol whose greatest accomplishment in the field of elective government, business, international dealings, and the like is...mayor of a relatively small city.

2. He handles himself well, looks sharp and dynamic, and is engaging. He has backtracked and stumbled, however, in only the short time he has been in the limelight, so I would wait to see what he really amounts to before passing final judgment.

GoldenBoy89 said:

How far left is the cutoff? Is Bernie a no-go for you?

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I really like Bernie, I believe he is sincere and honest. However, I don't agree with him on major issues such as free college/tech. education. I think it definitely needs to be more available to everyone without them going into life-time debt but not completely free.


I would vote for Biden or Hickenlooper in a general election. Other than those two I not sure yet.
If I could have my druthers I would like Bill Weld to beat Trump in primaries, then I would have a real choice maybe.

Albion said:

OK. Some preliminary thoughts:

1. I would be leery of electing a pol whose greatest accomplishment in the field of elective government, business, international dealings, and the like is...mayor of a relatively small city.

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OF course our current President’s thick file in his C.V. was being “the ‘You’re FIRED guy from the TEEVEE!”

Hank77 said:

If I could have my druthers I would like Bill Weld to beat Trump in primaries, then I would have a real choice maybe.

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You did say "if you had your druthers," so I guess you see the prospects realistically. But Weld beating Trump would go off at about 10,000 to 1 in Vegas. Betting that all life on Earth will be extinguished by an errant comet before election day is only paying 8,000 to 1.

Pommer said:

OF course our current President’s thick file in his C.V. was being “the ‘You’re FIRED guy from the TEEVEE!”

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That's sort of funny, I suppose; but I was attempting a serious answer to the question. Mayor Pete has almost an embarrassingly thin resume even when he tries to puff it up in the telling: high school Valedictorian, college grad, lieutenant in the reserves, twice-defeated candidate for other offices, and then two-term mayor of a city of 100,000 or so.

Albion said:

You did say "if you had your druthers," so I guess you see the prospects realistically. But Weld beating Trump would go off at about 10,000 to 1 in Vegas. Betting that all life on Earth will be extinguished by an errant comet before election day is only paying 8,000 to 1.

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The long-shot won the Kentucky Derby on an unforeseen mistake. The Vegas odds of Country House winning the Derby were 67/1 on Sat. morning. After the race, I'll bet the groans and tears shed through Vegas were greater than the victory cries.

I do agree with you, he hasn't got much of a chance.

Hank77 said:

I do agree with you, he hasn't got much of a chance.

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Right. That is not to say that someone couldn't derail the presidents re-election bid, but not Weld. He was thought to be very, very unlikely even to get the Libertarian nomination for Vice-President again, if he had chosen to go that way instead.

Albion said:

That's sort of funny, I suppose; but I was attempting a serious answer to the question. Mayor Pete has almost an embarrassingly thin resume even when he tries to puff it up in the telling: high school Valedictorian, college grad, lieutenant in the reserves, twice-defeated candidate for other offices, and then two-term mayor of a city of 100,000 or so.

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Mayor Pete, imo, needs to get experience as Governor Pete before he attempts to be President Pete. It would be in his best interest if he really wants the job.

Albion said:

OK. Some preliminary thoughts:

1. I would be leery of electing a pol whose greatest accomplishment in the field of elective government, business, international dealings, and the like is...mayor of a relatively small city.

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I think that's a fair point. Experience is important for such a big deal position like the office of the president. I think in his case it's more his age that casts a shadow of inexperience onto him whereas, if he were a bit older, most people would be willing to look past the size of the city he ran and focus more on how well he ran it.

2. He handles himself well, looks sharp and dynamic, and is engaging. He has backtracked and stumbled, however, in only the short time he has been in the limelight, so I would wait to see what he really amounts to before passing final judgment.

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He certainly has more charisma and wit about him than most of the others. I might have missed where or on what he backtracked on but I'm also waiting and hoping to see more from him up against his Democratic rivals come primary season.

GoldenBoy89 said:

I think that's a fair point. Experience is important for such a big deal position like the office of the president. I think in his case it's more his age that casts a shadow of inexperience onto him whereas, if he were a bit older, most people would be willing to look past the size of the city he ran and focus more on how well he ran it.

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Possibly. But on the other hand, it is because of his relative youth that people can with some justification ask how much he could have been expected to achieve already in his life.

If he were 50 or 60 years old and had the same resume, would people not look at that and think he certainly was short on qualifications or experience?

Albion said:

Possibly. But on the other hand, it is because of his relative youth that people can with some justification ask how much he could have been expected to achieve already in his life.

If he were 50 or 60 years old and had the same resume, would people not look at that and think he certainly was short on qualifications or experience?

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Are we pretending qualifications and experience matter now? If anything, his lack of experience should gain a huge swath of votes if last election taught us anything.

Albion said:

OK. Some preliminary thoughts:

1. I would be leery of electing a pol whose greatest accomplishment in the field of elective government, business, international dealings, and the like is...mayor of a relatively small city.

2. He handles himself well, looks sharp and dynamic, and is engaging. He has backtracked and stumbled, however, in only the short time he has been in the limelight, so I would wait to see what he really amounts to before passing final judgment.

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Of course now we know that while Trump was writing (with substantial help from a ghostwriter) "The Art of the Deal," his "deals" were losing him $1.2 BILLION over ten years, verified by his tax returns from 1984-95.

Is there a sucker born every minute?

Fantine said:

Of course now we know that while Trump was writing (with substantial help from a ghostwriter) "The Art of the Deal," his "deals" were losing him $1.2 BILLION over ten years, verified by his tax returns from 1984-95.

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Hmm. We don't know if that is so, and it refers to something from thirty years ago, anyway. Plus Trumps resume is much more than how much money he earned.

I did not even consider that factor when I gave my evaluation of Mayor Pete's qualifications, as you may have noticed, and I wouldn't do it in the case of Obama either.

Albion said:

Hmm. We don't know if that is so, and it refers to something from thirty years ago, anyway. Plus Trumps resume is much more than how much money he earned.

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Yes, that's the problem. Nobody really cares (except Trump himself) that he is apparently not as good a businessman as he brags about being. The real question is whether his financial shenanigans have left him subject to undue foreign influence.

Albion said:

Hmm. We don't know if that is so, and it refers to something from thirty years ago, anyway. Plus Trumps resume is much more than how much money he earned.

I did not even consider that factor when I gave my evaluation of Mayor Pete's qualifications, as you may have noticed, and I wouldn't do it in the case of Obama either.

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What exactly is Trump's resume? Before he ran for office he was primarily known for his real estate business and the Apprentice, which he got because of his real estate business. He has no experience in public service or even private industry in a business he didn't inherit.